OTHER SOMERSET COUNTY FIRST SETTLEMENTS. With the dawn of every new year representatives from two Berlin churches call on every land owner in the center of town to collect “one Spanish milled dollar”, or a fraction thereof.
For more than a century-and-a-half the Berlin Lutheran and Reformed Churches have followed this custom, following provisions of the town\’s original deed. It seems that the founding fathers, Jacob Keffer, Joseph Johns, and Jacob Good, were devoted adherents of the two churches. Wishing to make the future secure for the churches, they wrote into each deed a quitrent payable to the churches, to be used for the churches and their schools forever.
So long as they keep their religion, the descendants of the 17 original
owners of Berlin have a legal share in the churches and schools maintained by the churches, it is stated in the deed. But if any depart from their religion, well, they forfeit all right to the church and school, the deed provides.
This unique system of quitrents is still legal today, according to the
Rev. Robert S. Nagle, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church. Pastor Nagle says the measure has been tested in court. Rev. Herman Snyder, pastor of the Reformed Church, says “Spanish Milled” dollars were specified because then there was no United States currency to be used as legal tender.
CONGREGATION OF 18. This deed was dated 1784, but there had been settlers in Brothers Valley between one and two decades before. In 1770, the Rev. George Adam Martin, a pastor of the German Baptist Church, records that he had a congregation of 18 members. He must have been there a considerable time before that. Captain John Steele, head of a commission sent in 1769 to warn settlers west of the Alleghenies they had settled on Indian lands and must vacate, mentions hearing of a few settlers “nigh the Little Crossings”. This may have meant Brothers Valley, which then extended to the present site of Meyersdale.
Harmon Husband, coming in 1771, found Phillip Wagerlein, Henry Rhoades, Sr., and his sons and Jacob Newmayer. Others coming a little later included Walter Hoyle, Jacob Fisher, John Sweitzer, Valentine Lout, John Glessner, Frederick
Ambrose, Abraham Cable, Francis Hay, Christian Ankeny, Frederick Walker, George Countryman, Frederick Altfather, and Jacob, Peter Henry Glessner, and Jacob, Peter Henry Glessner, and others.
START TOWN. These settlers showed no disposition to start a town until
1778 when the first attempt was made. Settlers gathered on the farm of Elias Cober, near present Pine Hill, and engaged in festivities previous to plotting the ground. However, as several young men engaged in a horse race, one was accidently killed, and such a damper was put on the gathering that the project was abandoned. The next attempt, by Jacob Keffer on the present site of Berlin, was successful.
Two outstanding early civic leaders were Dr. John Kimmell, colonel in the
militia and an associate county judge and General Robert Philson. General
Philson, who was arrested with Harmon Husband during the “Whiskey Rebellion”, returned home without a trial to become a leading citizen. He was first congressman from this district, associate judge 20 years and a member of the state legislature.
HAT MAKING. Hat making was one of the important trades of early Berlin.
It was a Berlin blacksmith, Charles Stomer, who designed the famous Hathaway wood-burning stove, which took the place of the open fireplace in many homes. When the use of coal began, Stoner designed the William Penn coal stove. The coke used in his foundry was made on the Dr. Stoner farm, where two coke ovens still may be seen.
Jersey settlement, in Lower Turkeyfoot Township, was established in 1770, one of the first in the county. It was so named because many of the settlers came from New Jersey. A poorer class of people, they came in a group over the Braddock Road, which they left to follow Whites Creek to Turkeyfoot. Then they followed Laurel Hill Creek to the Draketown District, where many settled. Oliver Drake, for whom the town was named, built the community\’s first grist mill. David King followed Laurel Hill Creek north to where he built the grist mill later known as King\’s Mill.
In this community was built the famous Jersey Baptist Church, said to be the first church organized west of the Alleghenies. John Corbley, well-known Baptist leader, and Isaac Sutton, founded the congregation in 1775 at the home of Moses Hall. The church has a continuous written history since that time.
MEYERSDALE REGION. The Meyersdale region was first settled by a hunter named Jacob Castleman, who built his cabin along the river where the Saylor farms were later located. The region was then Indian territory. The river, known as the “Little Youghiogheny” was later named after him. Castleman dis-
appeared from the region and Mennonites and Amish, with probably some “Dunkards” appeared soon after the Fort Stanwix treaty in 1768. Among these settlers were the names Saylor, Berkey, Knaighley, Buechley, Olinger, Burger, Miller, Fahrney, and Burntrager. These are still well-known names there.
One of the earliest settlers of Elk Lick Township was Peter Livingood, an
Amish preacher, who in 1772 took land just west of West Salisbury, later known as the Keim farm. A family tradition says that while he was building his cabin a temporary shelter was erected under a big sugar tree. Here, beneath the tree, before the cabin was completed, his family was increased by the arrival of a daughter, Elizabeth, who in time married Jacob Brenison.
FIRST MURDER. Another pioneer of the same district was Captain William Tissue, who about 1770 settled two miles from Salisbury on a farm later known as the “old Sullivan place”. This farm is known as the place where one of the first murders in the county was committed. While Captain Tissue was away, probably on military service, a German indentured servant killed Mrs. Tissue
and set the house on fire to cover up his crime. An infant daughter was burned to death in the cabin while the remaining two children, small boys, were imprisoned in the barn. Captain Tissue returned and helped capture the murderer, who died in Bedford jail.
One of the chief commercial centers of Somerset County during stagecoach days was Stoystown, which with Greensburg was the only place of any size on the stage road from Bedford to Pittsburgh. The town was laid out on a claim called “The Lost Turkey”, warranted in 1774 to Daniel Stoy. Stoy, who served as a corporal in the Revolution, several times was driven from his home by
Indians, but finally settled down to become the founder of the town which bears his name.
LORE OF THE SOMERSET DUTCH. “I feel grumpsly still and can\’t go out, but Pop can flutch around”, said a neighbor lady. Translating the “Pennsylvania Dutch” which had crept into her English, the lady meant, “Frequently I do not feel well and can\’t go out, but Pop gets around more than necessary”.
The corrupt German vernacular spoken by German settlers became widely used, not only by the Amish and Mennonite people, but by rank-and-file people in most parts of the county. Many “Frosty Sons” not members of German sects are living today who knew no language but “Dutch” until they started to school.
Some of these words carrying over into English, though quaint, are admittedly picturesque. “He\’s such a shusley fellow”, means the fellow is slovenly or ne\’er-do-well. “He does nothing but fushple”, means, he is clumsy and careless.
“Stop noaching the dog and don\’t fress between meals”, spoken to a boy or girl would mean, “Don\’t overdo petting the dog and don\’t be gulping food between meals”.
Little boys who cannot sit still are told to “stop rutching”, and if they
do not obey, their elders may become completely distracted or “ve?hoodled”. Small discontented children “grex” awhile before they cry outright.
RECOGNIZE EXPRESSIONS. Somerset people recognize these definitely “Dutch” expressions for what they are, but many a person has gone into other localities and found that he used expressions immediately recognized at “Dutchified” by others, though he himself had never thought of them as unusual.
A Somerset boy away at college was greeted with good-natured laughter when he said, “The potatoes are all”, as he looked into the empty dish. Traces of the German word order often persist among those with Pennsylvania Dutch background. Other “earmarks” are characteristic use of “yet”, “already”, and “still”. “A\’s” are pronounced broadly and “ch” and “sch” are gutteral.
Somerset cooking, with sausage in casing, scrapple or ponhaus, kraut and dumplings, snitz and knepp, smierkase, sour dressings and a rich variety of taste contrasts, reflects the Pennsylvania German influence.
BELIEF IN HEXES. Belief in “hexes”, ghosts and powwow was common, and some traces of such folklore remain until this day. In early Berlin the first blacksmith shop was shunned for a while because people reported seeing ghostlike figures flitting from the shop into the cemetery across the street. General Robert Philson, investigating found the “ghosts” were caused by light
reflecting from the windows onto the tombstones.
A Berlin pastor finds that a few still believe in such happenings, and
tells this story in a last December issue of a Pittsburgh newspaper:
“It\’s a far cry from the witchcraft days of old Salem, but many western
Pennsylvanians may be surprised to know there still are communities where fear of witches and direful omens is much alive. In parts of Somerset County pow-wow doctors still are called upon to break spells cast by witches, and “tokens” still frighten the superstitious”.
“I first became “supernatural-conscious” when a neighbor reported seeing a red ball of fire float across the evening day”.
“That was a \’token\’, its the sign I usually see when someone is about to die”, said the woman.
The next day a telegram obediently appeared announcing the death of her husband\’s brother, but I regretted she had not reported the “token” until after the telegram had come. (Later note: the woman declared that she did tell several people of the “token” before the telegram arrived.)
There are those who believe in the “take-off”, a spell which affects the
health of babies, causing them to lose weight instead of gain. This spell is supposed to be broken only by a powwow doctor, who will measure the baby\’s length with a piece of thread, bury it under a rainspout with incantations, and thus stimulate the baby to grow again.
KEEPING SPELL ON BABY. On one occasion, when the powwow doctors failed, it was concluded that some woman of the neighborhood, who was secretly a witch, was keeping a spell on the baby.
To detect the witch a bit of the baby\’s urine was burned on a hot stove. Neighbors watched for any woman who might have a backache, for it is believed that witches can be hurt by fire, and if her spirit were cast on the baby, her kidneys would be burned.
Sure enough, a woman was observed who seemed to have a backache. Furthermore, she seemed relieved when she came into the presence of the baby, so to the canny neighbors the matter was quite settled.
“Can you stop the flow of blood from a wound by repeating a verse of scripture”? asked a parishioner.
Confessing my inability, he seemed much disappointed for, he said, there
are some in the village who can as well as those who with incantations can “blow the fire” out of a burn.
A neighbor with a severe nasal hemorrhage last summer visited a man who had the reputation of being able to stop the flow of blood by powwowing with a verse of the Bible.
When he was unable to stop the hemorrhage, the powwow artist concluded there was a ruptured blood vessel, against which his spell was ineffective. The patient then traveled nine miles to a medical doctor while blood from his nose half-filled a large tomato can.
With some, “supernatural experiences” are accepted as common fact and not unusual. “Tokens” and ghostly happenings are not doubted, and it does not occur to old-timers to report them.
MANY SIGNS. Vanishing horsemen, snow-white goats that disappeared, people who walk about without heads, ghosts that walk in graveyards, sound of footsteps by people who are not there, all have been seen or heard by estimable
citizens. The road from Kingwood through “Hex-a-berger” was said to be so beset with supernatural visitants that some people were afraid to travel that way at night.
It is difficult to definitely locate “Hex-a-berger”, for residents at the
upper end of the valley tell travelers “Hex-a-berger” is farther on, while
residents at the lower end tell travelers they have already come through “Hex-a-berger”. But everyone is sure there is such a place.
The bewitching of a cow was reported to me. It seems that old Bossy, formerly well-behaved, became perverse and refused to give milk. Believing the cow was bewitched, the owner set out to detect the witch whose spirit was in
the cow. He burned the cow with a hot iron and then went to the home of a suspect.
“You burned me”, the woman is reported to have said as he entered the door”.
SOMERSET BECOMES A BOROUGH. The growing village of Somerset, which had been county seat almost nine years, passed an important milestone March 5, 1804, when it became a borough.
An act of assembly that year established the borough and gave ruling authority to the “Burgesses and Town Council” as the town\’s officers were called. The new officers then drew up a set of ordinances to meet the needs of the borough. Though many old records have been lost or destroyed by fire, there exists an old volume “Borough Ordinance – 1804”, which was passed by council in 1830, but which contains provisions of an earlier date.
The spirit and tempo of a land emerging from frontier conditions was reflected in these old laws, as it was in the laws of other communities of that period.
For public safety, and perhaps for public dignity, it was forbidden to
drive a horse faster than a common walk in the borough limits. For 80 years the town did not speed up much, for at the end of that time the law was still in force. Eighty years later there also was a maximum speed limit of five miles per hour for trains in the borough. And if necessary an engine was permitted to interrupt traffic on Main Street up to 40 minutes.
It might be said that early trains needed liberal time for their stops, because it was hard for them to stop just where they intended at the first try. Brakemen would run from car to car tugging at brake wheels, only to have the train run past the station and be forced to back up.
PUBLIC NUISANCES. Penalties were provided for public nuisances such as
blocking alleys and throwing refuse in alleys or stopping drains. But cows
roamed the streets and residents barked their shins on plows standing in the streets at night or walked into the teeth of harrows until such were prohibited by the ordinances of 1885.
For the first half of its existence the streets of Somerset Borough were
in total darkness excepting for light filtering into the darkness from lamps in windows. Oil street lamps were installed in 1875, with William Gilbert the first lamplighter.
Theatrical performances, puppet shows, rope dancing, and wire dancing were forbidden in taverns. It is not clear whether the stern code of that day would have permitted them elsewhere or not.
The “Burgesses and Town Council” did not overlook the possibility of waywardness in their own ranks, as fines were provided for those who failed to attend meetings.
Penalties were also provided for gambling, encouraging or promoting horse racing, promoting or causing quarreling or fighting, the shooting of firecrackers, squibs, cannon or firearms, profanely cursing or swearing an oath.
The “Ordinance of 1804”, was in force until 1852, when it was annulled by court decree in response to a citizens\’ petition. The act of 1804, they charged, was “burdensome and inadequate”.
FIRST BURGESS. The first burgess of whom there is any record was Rudolph Urich, a silversmith, who was elected in 1809. While not much is known of his administration, at his death in 1831 an obituary in the “Somerset Herald” stated that he was greatly respected by the people.
The first known postmaster of Somerset was Joseph Espy, who was appointed in 1797. James Clark was appointed in 1807 and continued until 1820, when he was succeeded by Captain John B. Webster. The cost of sending letters in those days was from six cents to a dollar. In 1819 there were 131 unclaimed letters
advertised, possibly because of the high postage rates.
With the increasing importance of Somerset as a civic center, newspapers soon made their appearance. In the year Somerset became a borough first appeared the “German Farmer”, a journal printed in German and English and edited
by John Youngman. Three years later appeared the “Somerset Gazette”. While there are no known copies of these newspapers in existence, mention is made of them in records of legal advertising.
That year Somerset was county seat of a vast territory extending from the
Maryland state line to a point beyond present Ebensburg on the north. Four
years before the part of Bedford County known as Londonderry Township, comprising that part of Somerset now lying west of the Allegheny Mountain, had been annexed to the county. But during 1804 Cambria County was organized,
taking territory from Somerset which reduced the county to its present size.
SHADE FURNACE. Probably some of the iron articles used by Somerset residents three or four years after the borough was formed were made from Shade Furnace Iron. This iron furnace, the first in the county, was built by Gerhart and Reynolds in 1807 and operated more than half a century. Iron ore was dug near the furnace, located in Shade Township. Before coal was mined, early iron makers used charcoal, which was made from the forests around the furnace. Others who owned the furnace before its closing in 1858 were Peter Kimmel, Thomas Gaghagan, John Dunlap, Thomas Vickroy, Mark Richards, Anthony Searle, Benjamin Johns, John Hammer, and Daniel Weyand.
Coal was used for blacksmithing purposes in Somerset in 1809, and probably before. According to an article by the late F. W. Cunningham, state mine inspector for many years, the first discovery of coal was on the George Countryman farm, near Berlin. From this farm it was hauled to the Huff smithy in Somerset.
MANY CRAFTSMEN. Somerset abounded in good craftsmen. A look at the hinges and locks and other iron furnishings in such houses as the historic Weigley house, now owned by Dr. H. K. Stoner near Berlin, and others like it, reveal the early artisans knew their work. It is said that a number of old clocks,
surveyors\’ compasses, and other instruments made by Somerset craftsmen are still about the town.
Surprisingly enough, wolves abounded around Somerset for many years after the borough was established; not the 1945 variety, spotlighted by bobby-soxers, but four footed beasts of prey. Early settlers had difficulty protecting their flocks from the predatory animals and at one time an organization was formed with a view to exterminating the pest. Several settlers collected enough bounties to pay for their land. In spite of the onmarch of civ-
ilization, it was not until about 1840 that they finally became extinct.
Twenty-five were killed in 1810, the largest number ever killed in one year.
THE REFORMED CHURCH. Among the denominations earliest established in Somerset County was the Reformed Church (also called “Calvinistic”).
The pioneer adherent of the Reformed faith settling west of the Alleghenies was a co-founder of Somerset, Peter Ankeny, who came in 1773.
Previous to this time, however, traveling preachers of the denomination may have visited early settlers here. It is not known just what preachers built up the groups found in 1785 by the first regular minister, but probably John Conrad Bucher was among them.
Lieutenant Bucher, who was born and educated for the ministry in Switzerland, preferred military service to the church and enlisted in General Forbes\’ army. But after the French and Indian War and Pontiac\’s War, he returned to the ministry. After serving on the frontier, he became pastor at Carlisle.
The first ordained minister to serve Somerset County was John William Weber, who accepted a call to a parish near Greensburg in 1783. To supplement his meagre income he spent part of his time farming. From 1785 to 1788 he made a number of visits to Berlin and is believed to have visited groups at Stoystown and Salisbury.
Weber found here a population which was largely German and of Lutheran,
Reformed, and Anabaptist backgrounds. In those days of sectarian bitterness it was greatly to the credit of these groups that they worked together in harmony, together laying out cemeteries, erecting union meeting houses and
sometimes maintaining union church organizations. The human urge of brotherhood through their common nationality proved stronger than denominational differences which tended to divide them.
FIRST PASTOR. The first resident Reformed pastor in Somerset County was Cyriacus Spangenberg. His name calls to mind the early scandal which tends to obscure some of the good work he did.
Spangenberg was a former Hessian soldier, a fact which would tend to create much prejudice against him in those post-Revolutionary days. Although ordination was refused him by the Reformed Church, he managed to be ordained in
some irregular manner, and became pastor of the churches at Berlin, Bedford, Salisbury, Stoystown, and probably at Somerset, according to “Pastors and People of the Somerset Classis”.
He seems to have been popular with his congregations, baptized some 200 children, confirmed 168 and kept the church records in excellent condition. However, bad reports of him from the past came to the ears of the congregation, resulting in an investigation and a congregational meeting.
In this meeting Elder Jacob Glessner, formerly a lieutenant in the Revolution, rose and made an emphatic speech, advocating a change of ministers. Spangenberg suddenly sprang to his feet and stabbed Glessner twice with a case
knife, resulting in Glessner\’s death two days later.
If the incident had occurred today, it would capture headlines in metropolitan dailies across the nation. And, if it had happened today, Spangenberg might have found celebrated attorneys who would have pleaded “temporary in-
sanity” or “provocation”, but ignorant of these things, Bedford County court
found him guilty of first degree murder and ordered his execution.
CHURCH GOES ON. A less resolute denomination might have allowed the incident to stay their progress, but to the early fathers the church was greater than the humans who ran it, and progress continued.
Happily there followed Spangenberg an able successor named Henry Giese, who spent 37 years in the pastorage. Located in Berlin, he served Salisbury, Stoystown, Wellersburg, New Centerville, Somerset, Samuel\’s, Glade, Shanksville, Pine Hill, and Sanner\’s. Geise, affectionately known as “Father” Giese, for many years was the only Reformed pastor in the county, and served the longest of any who were located in Berlin. The second longest pastorate in Berlin was that of the Rev. D. S. Stephan, who retired in 1939 after 27 years
of service.
In 1808 the state legislature passed an act authorizing the citizens of
Somerset to raise $3,000 by a lottery to build a church. Evidently the funds
were used to build the “Union Stone Church”, which was erected in 1810 on “Ankeny Square” for use of the Reformed and Presbyterian congregations. The Reformed congregation later acquired ownership of the building and worshiped in it until 1855, when “a good frame church” was built under the pastorate of Charles F. Hoffmeier, grandfather of a later pastor named Edgar F. Hoffmeier.
In 1887, during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Hiram King, a new church was built at the corner of West Union Street and North Edgewood Avenue on ground donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Hicks. Then in 1916 St Paul\’s, as the congregation was known, extensively remodeled its building during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Edgar F. Hoffmeier. The Rev. Dr. George L. ROTH has been pastor since 1916.
OTHER PASTORS. Pastors other than those mentioned were, J. H. Keifer, 1818-25; Herman Ibbenken, 1833-44; David B. Ernst, 1844-52; Dr. Frank K. Levan, 1857-61; Dr. Eshbach, 1861-62; George H. Johnston, 1863-66 and 1869-72; John H. Sykes, 1866-69. The only living former pastor is the Rev. E. F. Hpffmeier, now pastor at Hanover.
Two later pastors have won a large place in the hearts of the people of
Somerset County, the Rev. Dr. A. E. Truxal, 1872-80, and the Reverend Dr. Hiram King, 1881-1913.
The Rev. Dr. Truxal during his ministry built and dedicated seven new churches, New Centerville, Rockwood, Larimer, Manor, Denmark Manor, Harrison City, and Meyersdale. He assisted in dedicating 21 other churches and was a popular
speaker at anniversaries. Beginning his ministry in Somerset, his last charge was Meyersdale, where he retired in 1921 after 27 years service in that charge. Two of his children, members of St. Paul\’s, are W. Curtis Truxal, former district attorney, and Miss Rebekah K. Truxal, Somerset high school teacher, affectionately known as “Mom” to hundreds of students.
DR. HIRAM KING. Dr. Hiram KING helped raise funds to install the courthouse clock. He also served as chaplain of the G.A.R., and served as a Pittsburgh synod president. His two daughters, Mrs. Jean King Ferner and Mrs. Rose King Platt, are members of the congregation.
The Berlin congregation has worshipped in four buildings. Organized in 1777, the first and second buildings were on the site of the old Reformed Cemetery. The third stood 100 feet to the east, while the fourth, built in 1883, stands in the center of town.
As a remembrance of the religious devotion of the founders of Berlin,
quitrents instituted by them are still paid to this church. Through a bequest of John Fletcher over 100 years ago, the church has been able to bestow more than 1,200 Bibles on Sunday school scholars. The Rev. Herman C. Snyder has been pastor since 1944.
(continued)
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